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Sunday

Jan 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Rick had to conceded that the missed the Prez’s promise to veto the NDAA, a promised which was broken, because attention was focused elsewhere. It occurs to me as a public service that maybe we should go back and look at some of the news stories that came up during election week and while few people were paying attention.

For me, the most interesting thing in early November was the publication in several German language magazines of excerpts of the bin Laden papers. (Of equal interest, for a later discussion, is whether the Obama Admin quelled free speech by threatening American based media companies that they would be prosecuted under anti terrorism laws if these excerpts were translated and put on major web pages. Apparently, every major American media source complied, so you’ll have to read the stuff in German, and it appears that you’ll have to buy it overseas) Of course, this was happening at a time when Al Qaeada had endorsed Obama for re election, so there was a clear harmony of interest between the followers of Osama and the followers of Obama.

Anyway, two interesting things in the papers. First, bin Laden apparently concluded that the 9/11 episode, while a short term success, did not advance the ultimate cause–the establishment of a new Caliphate. thus, it dawned on Osama that it made more sense to send cadres to school to study military history and psychology in the United States rather than aircraft flying. Based upon his own estimates, at least twenty al qaeada cadres shaved their beards, came to the states and earned PhDs. Apparently, a number also entered the American military to study tactics and weaponry from those who know it best. Apparently, it dawned on bin Laden that it made no sense to have Americans travel to Yemen to study military arts, when you can get the same training at home for free.

Second, bin Laden was awe inspired by Iraq. Bin Laden apparently viewed Iraq as a threat to his fundamentalist program, but W was kind enough to wipe out the secular dictator for him, paving the way for a likely sectarian war and Al Qaeada victory in Baghdad where previously none was possible. In short, bin Laden was grateful to W for handing Al Qaeada its future Caliphate capital. Also, he laid out a road map for overthrowing secular dictators in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunesia, as well as Jordan and Saudi Arabia. I suspect future historians will look at the Arab Spring and ponder whether these so called democratic revolutions were popular revolutions of the people, or more akin to a success story of Al Qaeada’s equivalent of the National Liberation Front.

Americans are not sufficiently focused on the threats posed to this counry by growing islamist terrorist power in the Middle East and North Africa. It also seems that this Adminstation does not want to admit that maybe its murder of bin Laden had no effect in terms of stopping a radical agenda from over running a third of the world and plotting sophisticated terrorism against the rest. As far as I can tell, this Administration seems to have no plan to address a growing threat. except, maybe, for trying to find ways to block Americans from learning about it in the days before an election.

Rob Meltzer

Rick had to conceded that the missed the Prez’s promise to veto the NDAA, a promised which was broken, because attention was focused elsewhere. It occurs to me as a public service that maybe we should go back and look at some of the news stories that came up during election week and while few people were paying attention.

For me, the most interesting thing in early November was the publication in several German language magazines of excerpts of the bin Laden papers. (Of equal interest, for a later discussion, is whether the Obama Admin quelled free speech by threatening American based media companies that they would be prosecuted under anti terrorism laws if these excerpts were translated and put on major web pages. Apparently, every major American media source complied, so you’ll have to read the stuff in German, and it appears that you’ll have to buy it overseas) Of course, this was happening at a time when Al Qaeada had endorsed Obama for re election, so there was a clear harmony of interest between the followers of Osama and the followers of Obama.

Anyway, two interesting things in the papers. First, bin Laden apparently concluded that the 9/11 episode, while a short term success, did not advance the ultimate cause–the establishment of a new Caliphate. thus, it dawned on Osama that it made more sense to send cadres to school to study military history and psychology in the United States rather than aircraft flying. Based upon his own estimates, at least twenty al qaeada cadres shaved their beards, came to the states and earned PhDs. Apparently, a number also entered the American military to study tactics and weaponry from those who know it best. Apparently, it dawned on bin Laden that it made no sense to have Americans travel to Yemen to study military arts, when you can get the same training at home for free.

Second, bin Laden was awe inspired by Iraq. Bin Laden apparently viewed Iraq as a threat to his fundamentalist program, but W was kind enough to wipe out the secular dictator for him, paving the way for a likely sectarian war and Al Qaeada victory in Baghdad where previously none was possible. In short, bin Laden was grateful to W for handing Al Qaeada its future Caliphate capital. Also, he laid out a road map for overthrowing secular dictators in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunesia, as well as Jordan and Saudi Arabia. I suspect future historians will look at the Arab Spring and ponder whether these so called democratic revolutions were popular revolutions of the people, or more akin to a success story of Al Qaeada’s equivalent of the National Liberation Front.

Americans are not sufficiently focused on the threats posed to this counry by growing islamist terrorist power in the Middle East and North Africa. It also seems that this Adminstation does not want to admit that maybe its murder of bin Laden had no effect in terms of stopping a radical agenda from over running a third of the world and plotting sophisticated terrorism against the rest. As far as I can tell, this Administration seems to have no plan to address a growing threat. except, maybe, for trying to find ways to block Americans from learning about it in the days before an election.

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